Domestics

DOMESTICS. Those who reside in the same house with the master they serve the
term does not extend to workmen or laborers employed out of doors. 5 Binn.
R. 167; Merl. Rep. h.t. The Act of Congress of April 30, 1790, s. 25, uses
the word domestic in this sense.
2. Formerly, this word was used to designate those who resided in the
house of another, however exalted their station, and who performed services
for him. Voltaire, in writing to the French queen, in 1748, says) " Deign to
consider, madam, that I am one of the domestics of the king, and
consequently yours, lily companions, the gentlemen of the king," &c.
3. Librarians, secretaries, and persons in such honorable employments,
would not probably be considered domestics, although they might reside in
the house of their respective employers.
4. Pothier, to point out the distinction between a domestic and a
servant, gives the following example: A literary man who lives and lodges
with you, solely to be your companion, that you may profit by his
conversation and learning, is your domestic; for all who live in the same
house and eat at the same table with the owner of the house, are his
domestics, but they are not servants. On the contrary, your Valet de,
chambre, to whom you pay wages, and who sleeps out of your house, is not,
properly speaking, your domestic, but your servant. Poth. Proc. Cr. sect. 2,
art. 5, Sec. 5; Poth. Ob. 710, 828; 9 Toull. n. 314; H. De Pansey, Des
Justices de Paix, c. 30, n. 1. Vide Operative; Servant.

His displeasure was expressed in broken sentences, partly muttered to himself, partly addressed to the domestics who stood around; and particularly to his cupbearer, who offered him from time to time, as a sedative, a silver goblet filled with wine ``Why tarries the Lady Rowena?''

It cost some exercise of the white truncheon, well seconded by the exertions of the domestics, to silence this canine clamour.

He was in great spirits that night, and drank with his friend and butler an extraordinary quantity of rum-and-water--at a very late hour the faithful friend and domestic conducted his master to his bedroom.

During this operation Richard kept up a desultory dialogue with the different domestics, occasionally throwing out a remark to the Judge concerning the deer; but as his conversation at such moments was much like an accompaniment on a piano, a thing that is heard without being attended to, we will not undertake the task of recording his diffuse discourse,

She presided over the female part of the domestic arrangements, in the capacity of housekeeper; was a spinster, and bore the name of Remarkable Pettibone.

In animals it has a more marked effect; for instance, I find in the domestic duck that the bones of the wing weigh less and the bones of the leg more, in proportion to the whole skeleton, than do the same bones in the wild-duck; and I presume that this change may be safely attributed to the domestic duck flying much less, and walking more, than its wild parent.

There is peace, in so far as the absence of slaughter may be called by that name, but there is necessarily little harmony of tastes or pursuits; and the cautious wisdom of the Circles has ensured safety at the cost of domestic comfort.

Their parties abroad were less varied than before, and at home she had a mother and sister whose constant repinings at the dullness of everything around them threw a real gloom over their domestic circle; and, though Kitty might in time regain her natural degree of sense, since the disturbers of her brain were removed, her other sister, from whose disposition greater evil might be apprehended, was likely to be hardened in all her folly and assurance by a situation of such double danger as a watering-place and a camp.

High times, indeed, if unprincipled young rakes like him are to be permitted to invade the sanctity of domestic bliss; though do what the Bashaw will, he cannot keep the most notorious Lothario out of his bed; for, alas!

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